What are you reading in general?

[I'm Murrin]

After reading a little on his theories earlier today, I went to the library and picked up Spinoza's Ethics. This will be the first time I've read a philosophical text. Having read the summary of Ethics provided by the translator at the beginning of this edition, I'm very interested in his ideas on the mind. However unorthodox his idea of God, it appears he provides a good argument for ethics in the absence of divine punishment/reward, and virtue as a product of reason alone.

[Zarathustra]

The da Vinci code is much better though, more evenly paced and just a little less implausible. All in all, Angels and Demons is an entertaining page turner, and nothing more.

I liked Angels and Demons much more than DVC. I liked the plot structure, how it focused on finding the four Bishops, each attempt being puzzle of art, architecture, poetry, and science. The descriptions of the city and the Vatican were superb. I felt like I was taking a tour of the place while being whisked around on this desperate life-or-death hunt.

The DVC, by comparison, is just a repeat of Angels and Demons with a slower, looser plot structure. Once you know the Big Secret, there's no other reason to read it. Its struggle represents a much less significant threat than A&D: I don't care who Jesus had sex with, that's nothing compared to the eternal struggle of science versus religion.

Spinoza's Ethics. This will be the first time I've read a philosophical text.

While it pleases me to see people reading actual philosophical texts--rather than poorly written fiction which peppers its prose with philosophical questions--Spinoza is sooo dry. I like his monistic tendencies, but that's about it. If you want to read some good philosophy, try David Hume. That guy actually has a sense of humor.

[Variol Farseer]

While I was in the hospital, I finished all but one volume of the (partial) set of Hemingway given me by some friends who are moving out of town and wanted to cull their library.

So I have finally read The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Moveable Feast, and yes, even The Old Man and the Sea. But I haven't yet done with the Complete Short Stories, which make a very fat book indeed.

[duke]

Malik123 said

The DVC, by comparison, is just a repeat of Angels and Demons with a slower, looser plot structure. Once you know the Big Secret, there's no other reason to read it. Its struggle represents a much less significant threat than A&D: I don't care who Jesus had sex with, that's nothing compared to the eternal struggle of science versus religion.

Interesting - I read the Da Vinci Code first - so I felt that A&D was a repeat (even though I know it was written first). For me, the whole Science Vs Religion debate is interesting, but not much more than that, as I see Science (how the universe works) quite differently from religion (how should I treat other people and live a happy life).

The fictional actions and history of Jesus are (somehow) more compelling to me. After finishing Da Vinci Code I spent some time talking to a friend who informed me of speculation that Jesus' Uncle was a merchant and he travelled with him to India during his formative years (12 to 28 ) and subsequently brought back Eastern religion to the Middle East, and returned to India after the crucifixion.

DVC provoked thought and debate amongst my friends and family over who Jesus was, so far A&D hasn't generated a similar response on Religion Vs Science - hence my opinion that DVC is a better book.

[danlo]

I've heard that too--the "lost years of Jesus"

[pitchwife]

Has anyone read the book "The Only Planet of Choice"?
I jusy finished it yesturday and I'm still digesting it...
BTW it's available online at www.geocities.com/the931/opclist.html

- pitch

[I'm Murrin]

I'm partway through Part One of Ethics. It's surprising how close to what I believe his ideas seem to be. I'd argue his calling the infinite substance 'God' (though that's all semantics, really), and I'm sure I'll disagree with his ideas of the relationship between mind and body when I get to them, but his perception of reality - of how everything is simply an affectation of the single greater substance that exists - sounds so right, considering what modern physics has taught us.
Enjoying this a lot. Makes me think, which is what I like.

[Variol Farseer]

I'm partway through Part One of Ethics.

Aristotle's Nicomachaean Ethics, his other book of ethics, or somebody else's Ethics?

Just so I don't say something stupid about the wrong book.

[I'm Murrin]

Sorry. I'd said which book I was reading in an earlier post and didn't think to reiterate: Spinoza's Ethics.

[Avatar]

Has anyone read the book "The Only Planet of Choice"?
I jusy finished it yesturday and I'm still digesting it...
BTW it's available online at www.geocities.com/the931/opclist.html

- pitch

Pitchwife makes another post after nearly 2 years and nobody notices?

Welcome back.

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Today I finished reading through the TS Eliot collection I bought a couple of weeks ago. The contents were:
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Preludes
Gerontion
Sweeney Among the Nightingales
The Waste Land
Ash-Wednesday
Journey of the Magi
Marina
Landscapes
Two Choruses from 'The Rock'

I think it may be a problem I have with most poetry that I don't read it the way I should. I'm never sure if I am getting the effect from it that I'm supposed to, whether the reason I am not affected is because I am not getting the correct rhythm or pace or emphasis. This was the same - the only part that really affected me was The Burial of the Dead - book 1 of The Waste Land - which I enjoyed from beginning to end. I'm going to read the poems again to see if I get a better impression the second time around, but I really don't have much of an ear for poetry.

[Loredoctor]

The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan.

[Drundaar Rockheart]

Has anyone read the Redwall series by Brian Jacques (I know most people think they are a little immature but hey I like em')?Well has anyone read them and enjoyed them?

[Avatar]

I've read and enjoyed some of them, particularly the first trilogy. I still read Redwall itself from time to time. I think there's a topic in here somewhere, started by a Member who calls himself Master Matthias. Might be in Gen Sci-Fi.

I've got nothing against childres books. Just because they're for children doesn't mean they can't be good. Sometimes very good.

--A

[sgt.null]

i am about to start the dark tower series.

[Loredoctor]

David Stevenson's 1914-1918 The History of the First World War.

[Waddley]

I just started The Man Who Listens to Horses by Monty Roberts. It was given to me by a co-worker. Monty is the real life "Horse Whisperer." It's, I suppose, his auto-biography.

Figured after the Gap Cycle I needed some easy reading... I'm starting to believe that I picked the wrong book for my "Easy Reading" time. I'm absolutely sure this book is going to bring me to tears. (ok, OK! So I cry at every thing... Hell, I cried at Ice Age. I don't want to talk about it...)

At only 15 pages it, it seems very good.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I just started The Man Who Listens to Horses by Monty Roberts. It was given to me by a co-worker. Monty is the real life "Horse Whisperer." It's, I suppose, his auto-biography.

Figured after the Gap Cycle I needed some easy reading... I'm starting to believe that I picked the wrong book for my "Easy Reading" time. I'm absolutely sure this book is going to bring me to tears. (ok, OK! So I cry at every thing... Hell, I cried at Ice Age. I don't want to talk about it...)

At only 15 pages it, it seems very good.

I love that book. There are some people who are critical of Monty Roberts, saying his accounts of things aren't accurate, and I don't know enough to agree or disagree with them... what I do know is that the man knows horses. The way he does things - it works. He's one of my role models as far as horse training goes. And yeah, the book is definitely not "easy reading," emotionally speaking.

[lucimay]

All Quiet On the Western Front - Remarque
The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas - Stein
The Rebel - Camus

[sgt.null]

Catcher In the Rye for our book club. read it last when I was a teen.